Boeremag bomb blasts rock Soweto and Bronkhorstspruit

Just after midnight on 30 October 2002 eight bomb blasts rocked Soweto. Seven of the blasts occurred on main commuter railway lines running through the township. The damage to the railway lines was estimated at approximately R2 million. More than 200,000 commuters could not go to work. One of the explosions flung a piece of railway line a few hundred metres onto a shack killing its sleeping occupant-the only fatality of the explosions. The eighth blast occurred at a mosque forcing parts of the building to collapse. A ninth bomb was found at a disused service station and defused by the police. Some hours after the Soweto blasts, the detonator from another bomb exploded at a Buddhist temple in Bronkhorstspruit, about 30 kilometers east of Pretoria, injuring two security guards. According to national police commissioner, Jackie Selebi, the explosive used in the blasts was ammonium nitrate. The direct and indirect financial consequences of the bombings were substantial. The many commuters who did not go to work on the day of the bombings made an impact on the local economy in Gauteng. News of the bomb blasts initially caused the Rand to drop 21 cents to the US dollar, but it recovered somewhat by the close of trading that day. The Gauteng Tourism Authority felt the blasts could negatively affect visitor numbers unless quick action was taken to apprehend the perpetrators. In early November 2002 the extreme rightwing Boeremag claimed responsibility for the bombings and various newspapers received an e-mailed letter in which the Boeremag said that the Soweto and Bronkhorstspruit bombings were the beginning of the end of the ANC government. Translated from Afrikaans the letter further stated: 'We also declare that it is the end of suppression of the Boer nation, and for that we honour only God. For this reason the ANC must also know that it is not only dealing with the Boer nation, but with the revenge... of the God of the Boer nation. Here in the Southland we will establish a nation for our God that will honour only Him.'